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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Health & medicine fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about health & medicine. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

13,676 published reviews in this topic

Boatos.orgHealth & medicine

Este áudio e uma fonte segura,  Dr Heider do Hosp Adv de Belem! Ele vai mudar o pensamento de todos sobre o uso das máscaras e outros detalhes".

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim presents an audio as a trustworthy account by “Dr. Heider” of the Hospital Adventista de Belém, saying it would change listeners’ views about masks. The review examines that specific recording: its transcript identifies the speaker as Heider and dates the recording to April 23, 2020. The speaker argued against masks and promoted exposing people to the virus, among other claims about Covid-19 treatments and prevention. The review reports that it contacted the hospital through its official communications channel. The hospital said the doctor mentioned was not part of its hematology team and that the audio did not represent the institution’s position. The article also says readers helped identify the speaker as Heyder, not Heider, and that he was then practicing medicine in Goiás, not working at the Belém hospital. The review further reports that Heyder later posted a correction on Facebook. In the quoted statement, he acknowledged that his audio opposing masks and advocating exposure to the virus was mistaken, said he had changed his position after speaking with an intensive-care physician, and urged people to use masks and clean their hands. Together, the hospital’s response and the speaker’s reported correction contradict the message’s presentation of the recording as a reliable statement from a doctor at that hospital.

Fact CrescendoHealth & medicine

Claim: Pune woman Megha is not a doctor nor covid 19 victim

Publisher’s rating: False

The viral claim concerned a photograph of a Pune woman identified as Dr. Megha, said to have died after contracting coronavirus. The review’s account says the woman was Megha Sharma, who was admitted to Jehangir Hospital in Pune on April 22 with pneumonia and multiple-organ failure. It reports that she died despite treatment, not that she died of COVID-19: “மேகா சர்மா. அவர் கடந்த ஏப்ரல் 22ம் தேதி நிமோனியா மற்றும் உடல் உள்ளுறுப்புகள் செயலிழப்பு காரணமாக, புனேவில் உள்ள ஜெஹாங்கிர் ஹாஸ்பிடலில் சேர்க்கப்பட்டார். ஆனால், சிகிச்சை பலனின்றி உயிரிழந்துவிட்டார்.” The review also says Sharma was not a doctor. It attributes that clarification to her husband, describing her instead as a homemaker: “அவர் டாக்டரும் இல்லை. சாதாரண இல்லத்தரசிதான் என்று அவரது கணவரே விளக்கம் அளித்துள்ளார்.” The hospital, according to the article, separately said she had not died from coronavirus infection: “இந்த புகைப்படத்தில் இருக்கும் பெண் கரோனா வைரஸ் பாதித்து உயிரிழக்கவில்லை என்று கூறி அவர் சிகிச்சை பெற்ற புனே ஜெஹாங்கிர் ஹாஸ்பிடல் நிர்வாகம் விளக்கம் அளித்துள்ளது.” To investigate the image, the review says it searched for information by uploading the photograph to Google, finding that the same claim circulated in several languages. It also describes seeing a Twitter denial and a screenshot presented as a complaint from the woman’s husband. The review’s conclusion was that the woman pictured was neither a doctor nor a COVID-19 victim.

ComprovaHealth & medicine

OMS alerta sobre máscaras infectadas que chegam ao Brasil

Publisher’s rating: Falso A OMS não fez alertas sobre máscaras importadas da China e da Índia como afirma um vídeo publicado no YouTube. O vídeo verificado pelo Comprova sobrepõe um áudio à gravação original e usa logotipos de GloboNews e G1, mas ele não foi veiculado nesses dois canais

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Op Facebook wordt beweerd dat ouders die hun kind na de heropening van de scholen weer naar school sturen, daarmee "automatisch toestemming geven" om hen een COVID-19-vaccin toe te dienen. Dat zou zijn gebaseerd op nieuwe richtlijnen van de Wereldgezondheidsorganisatie (WHO). Ouders wordt geadviseerd een brief aan de directeur van de school van hun kind te sturen waarin staat dat de navolging van de vermeende nieuwe WHO-richtlijn illegaal is. Er wordt erop gewezen dat na de Tweede Wereldoorlog artsen zijn veroordeeld door het geallieerde tribunaal in Neurenberg voor wat zij in concentratiekampen met gedetineerden hadden gedaan. Bij de Facebook-post is een voorbeeldbrief gevoegd voor ondertekening door de ouders.

Publisher’s rating: Het bericht is fout, gebaseerd op de verkeerde bewering van een nieuwe WHO-richtlijn.

The review examined a Facebook post claiming that parents who sent their children back to school after reopening thereby gave automatic permission for COVID-19 vaccination. The post attributed this supposed consent rule to new World Health Organization guidance and urged parents to send school directors a letter asserting that following it would be illegal. It also invoked doctors’ postwar convictions by the Allied tribunal in Nuremberg. The review says the post included a sample letter for parents to sign. To assess the claim, the review reported information from a spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and referred readers to the Dutch National Immunisation Programme’s legal-information page. According to the ministry spokesperson, vaccinations in the Netherlands are voluntary; for minors, parents must consent, and children aged 12 and older must also consent themselves. The spokesperson described the sample letter’s information as untrue and said the supposed new WHO guideline did not exist. Thus, the review’s stated evidence directly contradicts the post’s central premise: school attendance was not presented as automatic consent, and the cited new WHO rule was described as nonexistent. The excerpt does not provide the full text of the letter or the linked programme page, so it does not support further conclusions about the post’s precise legal arguments or the historical comparison it invokes.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

Une publication concernant le coronavirus circule depuis des semaines sur les réseaux sociaux sous forme de chaîne. Les conseils préconisés dans ses textes proviennent prétendument "de chercheurs collaborant avec le groupe de travail luttant contre le coronavirus", de "médecins chefs de service, chirurgiens et des directions de services hospitaliers", de la "cellule des pompiers de l’aéroport" ou d'organisations humanitaires comme l'Unicef. Cette lettre-chaîne est partagée en différentes langues, dans différentes versions. Au cœur du sujet: l'affirmation que l'agent pathogène Sars-CoV-2 serait détruit à une température de 26 à 27°C .

Publisher’s rating: le texte contient de fausses allégations plutôt flagrantes. Le virus n'est pas détruit à une chaleur de 27 degrés et "retenir son souffle pendant plus de dix secondes" n'est pas non plus une "simple vérification" pour constater une contamination par le coronavirus, ou non. Quant au fait de boire régulièrement, ceci ne peut pas empêcher une contamination. De plus, "un rhume avec écoulement nasal" peut aussi faire partie des symptômes du Covid-19, meme si cela survient plus rarement. Cette chaîne n'est donc pas une source d'information sérieuse concernant le coronavirus, sans compter le fait que son origine reste incertaine. Le texte n'a expressément pas été propagé par l'UNICEF.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturHealth & medicine

In einem vielfach geklickten und kommentierten Posting auf Facebook vom 15. April 2020 kritisiert ein Nutzer die Corona-Maßnahmen in Deutschland als überzogen und fordert, das wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Leben wieder hochzufahren. Unter anderem heißt es, in Ländern wie Italien würden aktuell "nicht mehr Menschen als ohne den Corona Virus [sic!]" sterben. In den Krankenhäusern in Bonn und im Rhein-Sieg-Kreis seien nur neun Prozent der Intensivbetten belegt und selbst bei der Grippewelle 2017/18 mit etwa 25 000 Toten sei kein Krankenhaus überlastet gewesen

Publisher’s rating: In Italien sind im März und im April 2020 deutlich mehr Menschen gestorben als in den Vergleichsmonaten der Vorjahre. In Bonn sind mehr als neun Prozent der Intensivbetten belegt, diese Zahl bezieht sich nur auf Corona-Patienten. Die Aussage, in der Grippesaison 2017/18 seien keine Krankenhäuser überlastet gewesen, trifft nicht zu.

The review examines a widely shared Facebook post from 15 April 2020 that argued the restrictions in Germany were excessive and called for economic and social life to resume. It attributes three specific claims to the post: that deaths in Italy were not above normal, that only nine percent of intensive-care beds in Bonn and the Rhein-Sieg district were occupied, and that no hospital had been overwhelmed during the 2017/18 flu season. The fact-check says it assessed these claims using mortality monitoring, information about Bonn’s beds and reports from the flu season. [S1: “In einem vielfach geklickten und kommentierten Posting auf Facebook vom 15. April 2020 kritisiert ein Nutzer die Corona-Maßnahmen in Deutschland als überzogen und fordert, das wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Leben wieder hochzufahren.”; “In den Krankenhäusern in Bonn und im Rhein-Sieg-Kreis seien nur neun Prozent der Intensivbetten belegt und selbst bei der Grippewelle 2017/18 mit etwa 25 000 Toten sei kein Krankenhaus überlastet gewesen”] For Italy, the review refers to EuroMOMO, a network that publishes weekly data on whether deaths in participating countries and regions exceed the expected level. It reports that EuroMOMO had recorded particularly high excess mortality in Italy by late March. Its account of the bulletin for 30 March to 5 April says the bulletin described a marked rise in excess mortality linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. [S1: “Das Netzwerk EuroMOMO veröffentlicht jeden Donnerstag für mehrere europäische Länder und Regionen Daten dazu, ob mehr Menschen in einer bestimmten Woche gestorben sind, als in diesem Zeitraum zu erwarten wäre.”; “EuroMOMO verzeichnete jedoch bereits Ende März eine ‘besonders hohe Übersterblichkeit’ in Italien.”; “Im Bulletin für die 14. Kalenderwoche (30. März bis 5. April) heißt es, es zeige sich ein ‘deutlicher Anstieg’ der Übersterblichkeit ‘in Zusammenhang mit der Covid-19-Pandemie’.”] The review clarifies that the nine-percent figure for Bonn, dated 8 April 2020, counted occupancy by Covid-19 patients only; it did not include other intensive-care patients. On the flu claim, it points to reports from March 2018 that hospitals had postponed operations and turned away more people. Those details address why the post’s figures and its broad assertion about hospital strain do not establish what the post suggested. [S1: “Diese neun Prozent (Stand: 8. April 2020) beziehen sich jedoch nur auf die Auslastung durch Corona-Patienten. Andere Intensivpatienten wurden dabei nicht berücksichtigt”; “Tatsächlich gab es im März 2018 Berichte über Krankenhäuser, die Operationen verschieben und mehr Menschen abweisen mussten”]

NewtralHealth & medicine

Tasuku Honjo, premio Nobel de Medicina 2018, ha dicho que el coronavirus ha sido fabricado por el hombre

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Newtral examined a viral message attributing to Tasuku Honjo, the 2018 Nobel laureate, statements that the coronavirus was not natural and had been made by humans. The review reports that it found no trace of the supposed statements in media coverage. It also says Honjo’s Nobel and Kyoto University profiles did not mention any collaboration with the Wuhan laboratory, despite the message’s claim that he had worked there for four years. The review describes several checks against the attribution. It cites an email published by Indian fact-checking outlet Alt News in which a student, speaking on behalf of Honjo, denied the statements and called them fake news. It also reports that Aluk Humar, a member of Honjo’s team, shared the denial, and that other fact-checkers contacted him. Newtral further quotes a statement circulated by the Royal Academy of Medicine in Spain in which Honjo said his name and Kyoto University had been used to spread false accusations and disinformation. The review distinguishes this false attribution from comments by another Nobel laureate, Luc Montagnier, who had said in an interview that the coronavirus appeared to have originated in a laboratory. It also notes that Honjo’s reported interviews concerned other topics, including testing and movement restrictions, rather than defending a laboratory origin. The article’s conclusion is that Honjo did not make statements about COVID-19’s origin.